The geographically-targeted text messages will be sent to residents in San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Orange, Ventura and Los Angeles counties where red flag warnings have been issued.

The alert comes as the National Weather Service is forecasting an extreme Santa Ana Wind event beginning tonight, Wednesday, with 18 to 24 hours of strong winds gusting 50-80 miles per hour. The predicted winds, coupled with very dry conditions, mean that any fires that start will have a high probability of rapid growth.

“The state’s emergency operations center is fully activated and we are coordinating with all state agencies to continue our response to current fires and pre-position resources in case new fires emerge in the coming days,” said Mark Ghilarducci, Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

“We have been staffing up with additional personnel and equipment in Southern California over the past several days and our Incident Commanders have access to a wide variety of firefighting resources,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE Director. “But let me be clear, no amount of resources can keep up with the predicted conditions. Firefighters and law enforcement will be prioritizing life safety and working to effect evacuations where needed. The public has a critical role to play in helping us prevent fires before they start by using extreme caution and avoiding any activity that may cause a spark.”

Residents are advised to monitor local media and be ready to evacuate if needed. For more information on how to prepare, visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org.

More than 200,000 people in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties have been told to leave their homes.

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Across seven counties, millions of cellphones shook and squawked with a warning of “extreme fire danger,” in California’s largest-ever use of a disaster alert system.

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As if to illustrate the danger, several new fires cropped up across Southern California. A fire near Bonsall in San Diego County ignited and within hours spread to more than 4,000 acres with zero containment.

The Ventura County FD holds a press briefing every evening at 6PM PST. It's one of the best run presentations of that sort I have seen. They have a lineup of representatives from all of the entities speaking their pieces in turn, and then take questions. Even Rich Thompson from the Oxnard NWS is there. (First time I've heard an NWS rep use the term "persistence" as a forecast model.

Now the Thomas Fire is 259,000 acres, 400 square miles, about 60 miles long and 40 miles wide at greatest extents, 1009 buildings destroyed, Total Fire Personnel: 8,318 Total Fire Engines: 1,012 Total Fire crews: 158 Total Helicopters: 32 Total Dozers: 78 Total Water Tenders: 62 Total Fixed Wing 7

and a large portion of California is under Red Flag Warnings this weekend...

Interestingly, San Luis Obispo County is in the doughnut hole along the coast outside the red Flag areas.

5.04 inches of rainfall has been observed so far with this storm at the Matilija Canyon rain gage north of Ojai in the Thomas burn area.

We've had about 2.5" since it started yesterday. KEYT 3 ABC Santa Barbara says:

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At 2:40 a.m., a flash flood warning was put in place for areas in the Thomas Fire and Whittier Fire area. That warning is expected to remain in place until 5:30 a.m. Santa Barbara County had already declared a 'State of Emergency' on Monday in anticipation of heavy rain in the area.

A flash flood warning was issued San Luis Obispo in the area of the Alamo Fire. That warning will remain in effect until about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Evacuation orders have been put in place for many residents in the footprint of the burn areas. Many have sought refuge at Santa Barbara City College as well as local hotels -- which are offering discounts to those evacuated.

Santa Barbara County put out an interactive map for people to check the evacuation status of their homes. That map can be found here.

The weather event is expected to gain intensity throughout Tuesday morning.

Winds gusted overnight and into the morning. Power outages were reported in Buellton, Vandenberg Village and in the area of Lake Cachuma. By 3:30 a.m. Southern California Edison reported a major power outage in Goleta. 1,341 customers were affected by the outage, which was likely caused by severe weather.